Mobile Devices

Custom Enterprise Tablets Without the Time and Expense? Yes!

There are two facts most CIOs will agree on: Technology is changing almost faster than it can be integrated in the business environment, and custom hardware solutions are now almost always inferior to the latest consumer models that are pumped into the market due to the pace of innovation.

This certainly was what Mobelisk, a spinoff of acoustic component supplier AAC Technologies, discovered when it was tasked with building a fully-integrated, custom, enterprise-based tablet for Verizon.

“We basically learned very early on that there’s a much better way to go about this whole notion of enterprise tablet computing,” explained Dennis Hamann, CEO of Mobelisk, during a recent interview with MobilityTechzone.

“What we were finding with these custom-built tablets is that they were always lacking in terms of operating system, processor, just general feature sets, multimedia capabilities,” he said. “They didn’t compare with a $199 product from Google.”

The solution: Go modular with a single enterprise case that supports the seven-to-eight-inch consumer tablets and is highly configurable for enterprise needs. This translates into the latest off-the-shelf tablet technology with the necessary enterprise customization and not the cost or lag time associated with a complete purpose-built solution.

The Mobelisk MoGo Chimera is a case that supports the iPad Mini, Google Nexus 7, Samsung Galaxy Tab seven-inch and Samsung Note 8, and features end caps that bring added hardware functionality.

The case handles the sticky issue of button placement by using electro-mechanical buttons. This means the buttons stay in the same location on the MoGo Chimera not matter which tablet is installed; the case is configured to correspond with the button placement of the particular tablet installed.

The case also weatherproofs tablets and brings enterprise-grade security. The MoGo Chimera has sealed plastics and electronics to meet Mil Std 810g and IP54+ standards for enhanced shock/vibration and water/dust impermeability (limited submersion). It has end cap authentication for security.

Every case comes with an additional 4000mAh battery since most enterprise tablets are meant for the field and heavy use. An option for an additional hot-swappable 2000mAh battery end cap plus inductive charging gives businesses even more power options.

Markets that benefit most from this modular approach are those that have very customer-intensive applications. Those include retail, hospitality, healthcare and transport, among others.

“Basically, anywhere where an enterprise is engaging with a customer,” noted Hamann. “They take this tablet, and they put some peripherals around it and they engage with the customer. So it can be anywhere from a lawn care company to a payment processor, to a retail environment, to a casino.”